San Francisco: Blue Bottle Coffee Film Screening &...

Last year, in 2012, documentary filmmaker Sarah Gerber successfully Kickstarted a project to complete her film “The Way Back To Yarasquin“. The film, subtitled “A Coffee Pilgrimage”, centers around Honduran coffee producer Mayra Orellana-Powell. And because all things in coffee, great and small, carry with them a degree of interconnectedness, our friends and partners at Blue Bottle Coffee work closely with Mayra and the growers of Santa Elena, and supported Sarah’s Kickstarter campaign last May.

Santa Elena is located on the South-Western edge of Honduras very near the El Salvador border. A very small and remote village it’s not listed on the map, but you see its general location on the link above. The people of Santa Elena are primarily subsistance farmers growing primarily corn, beans and coffee for their families. But many farmers also sell coffee in small quantities to the large cooperatives in Marcala (the closest “large” town that is key coffee town in Honduras).

Blue Bottle will host a screening at their beautiful location inside Heath Ceramics in San Francisco’s Potrero neighborhood (2900 18th St.) on September 5 at 7PM. After the screening guests will have the opportunity to have a dialogue with Sarah Gerber and Mayra Orellana-Powell, and to taste a variety of coffees from Honduras paired with pastries from Blue Bottle’s kitchen.

A still from “The Way Back To Yarasquin”

Blue Bottle describes Honduras Santa Elena Enriqueta Molina as “exquisite”, and it will be available to purchase at the event. Best of all, all revenue from coffee sold at the screening will go to the coffee pickers of Santa Elena. This sounds to us like emblematic event for specialty coffee in the 21st century, wherein guests can watch a film about coffee, meet the filmmaker, meet the producer featured in the film, and taste her family’s coffee. The 21st century rules.